Bacteria Driven Reef

[NEWSALT]

In an attempt to reduce nutrient levels, and try to improve the color and growth out of my SPS corals, I thought I'd start this thread for anyone that want's to follow along as I try my own concoction for a Bacteria Driven Reef. I tried Vodka in the past, but always got some weird growth on the rocks that I attributed to the Vodka dosing.

A few days ago, I started my own version of Polyp Lab Reef-resh system. the Reef-resh system consists of:
RF Genesis
RF Plus
RF Acids
RF Fuel

For more information on Polyp Lab Reef-resh System look here: http://www.polyplab.com/reefresh.html

I'm substituting the following for the Polyp Lab products:

Brightwell MicroBacter7 (for RF Genesis)
Zeo Coral Vitalizer (for RF Plus)
Zeo Amino Acids High Concentrate (for RF Acids)
Brightwell Reef BioFuel (for RF Fuel)

My dosing is:
MB7 : 4 drops/day
AAHC: 4 drops/day (half the recommended dose)
Coral Vitalizer: 4 drops/day (half the recommended dose)
BioFuel: 6ml/day for weeks 1&2, 8ml/day for weeks 3&4, 10ml/day for week 5 and on.

I was using Lugol's Solution to try and bring out the "blues" in the coral. I was dosing Lugol's at 1 drop/day for the past 2 months and have not seen any improvement in the blues. This morning, I stopped the Lugol's, and switched to Zeo's PIF (Potassium Iodide Flouride) at 4 drops/day. I'll see if that helps. I do a 10g water change every week using Red Sea Coral Pro salt.

Water Parameters:
SG: 1.026
Alk: 10.5 (trying to bring that to about 8 or 9)
Ca: 450
Mg: 1400

My Nitrate and PO4 parameters as of Sunday, 11/21 were:

PO4 measured 0.08 (Hanna)
Nitrate measured 0 (Salifert)

I'll post some pictures of my tank when I get a chance.

 

[Mbodell]

You could also try brightwells regular potassium for the blues. That is what he recommended to me last saturday.

 

[NEWSALT]

You could also try brightwells regular potassium for the blues. That is what he recommended to me last saturday.

I'll see how the PIF does. If I don't see any improvement, I'll try the Brightwell product. Are you trying it?

 

[Mbodell]

Yeah I just started saturday. I feel safer with it than dosing iodine and potassium. I don't test for iodine and the potassium is apparently what helps the blues in sps. I want to keep it separate so I can track the impact as well.

 

[Phyl]

Have you tried just feeding heavier? I would increase feeding while watching the NO3 and PO4 numbers. Feed more until you start to show it on the tests and then back off a bit. I bet you'd get better colors faster!

 

[NEWSALT]

Have you tried just feeding heavier? I would increase feeding while watching the NO3 and PO4 numbers. Feed more until you start to show it on the tests and then back off a bit. I bet you'd get better colors faster!

I've started to feed a bit more. Nitrates seem good, but I'd like to see if I can get the PO4 down to something like 0.03 or 0.04 with this system. If I get there, then I'll increase feeding more. From there I'll watch PO4 and adjust from there as you suggested.

 

[NEWSALT]

Pictures from last night:
Full Tank:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Side Shot:

Forgot to mention Fish Load:
1 Yellow Tang
1 Hippo Tang
1 Naso Tang
1 Convict Tang
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Royal Gramma
2 False Perc. Clowns
5 Bartlett Anthias
5 Green Chromis

 

[NEWSALT]

Water Params this morning:

PO4: 0.04
Nitrate: 0
Alk: 8.96
Ca:435

 

[ricwilli]

It looks like you dropped the po4 pretty quick. How are the corals looking and reacting?

 

[NEWSALT]

Corals look good. In terms of color, some look better than others.

 

[asonitez]

Pictures from last night:
Full Tank:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Side Shot:

Forgot to mention Fish Load:
1 Yellow Tang
1 Hippo Tang
1 Naso Tang
1 Convict Tang
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Royal Gramma
2 False Perc. Clowns
5 Bartlett Anthias
5 Green Chromis

I don't see the pics

 

[NEWSALT]

I don't see the pics

Try this:
FTS:

Left Side:

Right Side:

 

[NEWSALT]

One month into this homemade system. I still have some patches of hair algea that I can't seem to shake.

I stopped dosing ZeoVit PIF as it didn't seem to be doing anything. My Nitrates seem very low with my Salifert Kit and my PO4 seems to be hanging around 0.04. Yesterday I started dosing Zeovit Sponge Power to see if that would help the coral colors. Only problem with Sponge Power is that mojano's love it to. I'm trying to find out what Brightwells equivalent to Sponge Power is. My current daily dosing schedule is:

MB7 : 6 drops/day
AAHC: 6 drops/day
Coral Vitalizer: 6 drops/day
BioFuel: 4ml/day
Sponge Power: 6 drops/day

Any ideas what to do to drop the PO4 a little more? I'm trying to get it to about 0.02.

 

[1201139]

is all that coralline???

 

[Nickjr000]

Yesterday I started dosing Zeovit Sponge Power to see if that would help the coral colors. Only problem with Sponge Power is that mojano's love it to. I'm trying to find out what Brightwells equivalent to Sponge Power is.

Why dont you just use the sponge power instead of trying to find a brightwell equal? Zeo products are good

 

[NEWSALT]

Yesterday I started dosing Zeovit Sponge Power to see if that would help the coral colors. Only problem with Sponge Power is that mojano's love it to. I'm trying to find out what Brightwells equivalent to Sponge Power is.

Why dont you just use the sponge power instead of trying to find a brightwell equal? Zeo products are good

Zeo Products are good, but pricey.

 

[mgonz]

Kz makes a product called pohls xtra that is supposed to be really good. I ordered it yesterday and hope to start it fairly soon. What are you using to actually feed the corals?

 

[NEWSALT]

Kz makes a product called pohls xtra that is supposed to be really good. I ordered it yesterday and hope to start it fairly soon. What are you using to actually feed the corals?

Coral Vitalizer is supposed to be a coral food, but I also use rotifers and Coral Frenzy

 

[mgonz]

Yes you are right. I ordered that as well. I've been feeding the elos pro skimmer.

 

[NEWSALT]

So far things have been going pretty well. I still have a few strands of HA here and there, but overall things are good. I revised my dosing to:

Brightwell MB7 : 6 drops/day
Zeo AAHC: 6 drops/day
Zeo Coral Vitalizer: 6 drops/day
Brightwell BioFuel: 5ml/day

Almost 2 weeks ago, I started dosing:
Zeo Sponge Power at 4 drops/day

On Friday, I started dosing:
Zeo Pohl's Xtra at 4ml/day

I ran out of my Red Sea Coral Pro Salt, and I'm trying out a small bag of Oceanic Salt. I read that it had good levels of Alk, Mg, and PO4. I'm swithing my water changes from 10g a week to 5g every 2 weeks. I'm increasing my feeding of the fish. I've noticed that some washed out corals are starting to show more color. I'm uncertain if it's the increased feeding or the Sponge Power.

Water Parameters:
SG: 1.026
Alk: 8.85 (trying to get that to 9)
Ca: 425
Mg: 1400
PO4 measured 0.07 (Hanna)

PO4 was at 0.04 for a while, but I think the increased feeding bumped it up. To counteract that, I increased the Bioful from 4ml/day to 5ml/day and started running a little RowaPhos.